How To

iPad trick: Copy and paste from iBooks

Many people are hoping the iPad can replace their traditional laptop for many productivity applications. One such group is students. If you need to copy text from one of your eBooks on your iPad, you may be disappointed to find out that the DRM management in iBooks does not allow this directly. Use this tip to copy and paste content from your downloaded eBooks.… Read more

Hands-on: Netflix on the Apple iPad

Finding the official Netflix streaming video app ready to go for the Apple iPad launch was a pleasant surprise, as it's sure to be near the top of anyone's killer apps list for the tablet.

We were able to download the Netflix app from iTunes and give it a test drive, and the initial results are very promising (which you can see for yourself in the video above).

Launching the app takes you to what looks almost exactly like the Netflix Web site. You sign in with your username and password just as you would when using Netflix … Read more

Hands-on: Gaming on the Apple iPad

The iPhone and iPod Touch were both unexpected hits in the portable gaming category, but the iPad has had high expectations for its video game capabilities from day one. We checked out a few titles, including puzzle, racing, and shooting games, to see how they stack up.

One thing to keep in mind with iPad gaming is that your existing iPhone games should work, even though they may not look fantastic. The experience is a little like playing a classic PC game on a high-definition monitor. Obviously the most-popular games have or will have iPad-specific versions, but we're not … Read more

Hands-on: Is the Apple iPad a Netbook killer?

They were virtually unheard of a couple of years ago, but now low-cost, low-power Netbook laptops are among the most popular PCs. After all, they approximate the experience of a larger, more expensive laptop at a fraction of the size and price.

But just as we've started to see Netbooks from Asus, Acer, HP, or Dell on every coffee shop table or airplane seatback tray, Apple's iPad comes along, looking very much like a Netbook screen unhinged from the rest of its body. The question is naturally raised, is the iPad a Netbook-killer?

To pull the question back a little, when the iPad was first announced, one of the questions we wrestled with was whether it should be considered a computer at all. By some standards, the iPad is essentially a keyboardless laptop, but by others, it's more akin to a portable media player, such as the iPod Touch.

In the end, we tilted in the direction of "not a computer," and the factor that tipped the scale was Apple's use of the walled garden iPhone operating system. The iPad's lack of freedom to install basic apps and plug-ins, such as FireFox or even Flash, makes this far too limited a system to be considered a full-fledged computer.

That said, when going to press events or trade exhibitions, we sometimes leave the laptop at home if it looks like we'll only need access to e-mail, some light Web surfing, and maybe Twitter or Facebook to get through the day. After all, the iPhone, Palm Pre, and other smartphones can handle those chores under most circumstances.

So, with a bigger screen, more productivity apps, such as the iWork suite, and even an optional wireless keyboard, can we ditch our laptops and Netbooks for an iPad?

The short answer is probably not.… Read more

Hands-on: The Apple iPad as e-book reader

Update (10:00pm PT): Just hours before the Apple iPad is set to go on sale, Amazon has made the iPad-optimized version of its Kindle app available. Like the iPhone version, it's free, and can access any Kindle books purchased through your Amazon account. We have not had a chance to load the new iPad version of the Kindle reader on an iPad yet, but screenshots indicate it had a similar bookshelf feature and page-turning animations. This is a surprising development, as Amazon had previously claimed they would not have the app available on April 3. Original post continues below.

At first glance, the new Apple iPad includes most of the features we've been complaining are missing from the current generation of specialized e-book readers, namely the Amazon Kindleand the Barnes & Noble Nook.

If one were to build from scratch a device for reading books and periodicals onscreen, there's a good chance it would include a touch screen for navigating and flipping pages; a color display for illustrations, photos, and book covers; and--infrequently mentioned but still important--the ability to download and read e-books from several different sources.

The current Kindle DXhas a display size similar to the iPad's, at 9.7-inches. But from a features standpoint, the iPad blows away the Kindle. In addition to its color screen, it's got a laundry list of functions above and beyond its e-book reader capabilities: a robust (albeit Flash-less) Web browser; built-in iTunes audio and video playback; photo viewing; and access to the entire library of tens of thousands of iPhone apps (let alone new, iPad-optimized ones that are just coming online).

Some first impressions when comparing the reading experience on both devices:

The screen: The Kindle's e-paper display has plenty of fans, with many agreeing with Amazon's sales pitch that the flat matte screen is easier on the eyes than backlit displays. It also makes the device readable in brightly lit environments, including direct sunlight. By contrast, the bright, colorful display on the iPad really pops at first glance. And it's backlit, so you can read in complete darkness. The question is: will that remain comfortable over long periods? During our short time with the device, we found the iPad's highly reflective glass screen to be problematic--we were always shifting angles to avoid seeing the reflection of overhead lights. (The iPhone may have the same issue, but it seems less problematic on its smaller screen.) Like many things, this is going to be a personal preference--but we'd give the Kindle (and other E-ink readers) the nod for brightly lit environments, while the iPad wins for darker ones. Meanwhile, if color is a necessity, the iPad wins hands-down.

Software--iBooks versus Kindle Reader: We were able to load up the Apple iBook reader on our iPad and we were impressed with many of the iBook features, including its browsable collection of book covers, the ability to see two pages at once in landscape mode, and the easy-to-use timeline at the bottom, which shows you the page count as you fast-forward through the book.

There's a cool page-turning animation as well, but that may get old rather quickly. Still, it beats the full-screen page flash that happens when you turn a page on a Kindle. … Read more

Turn off Windows automatic updates

Windows automatic updates are a good thing. They keep your system patched, so you should probably leave the updater on. However, they can be annoying. The updater is always prompting you, or even automatically rebooting your system when you walk away for a moment. I'll show you how to turn off the automatic updates, only if you promise to manually keep up with the patches! We don't need another zombie-Windows-machine botnet out there.

Go to Windows Update by clicking the start button, choosing all programs, and then clicking Windows Update.

On the left side of the panel, click … Read more

How to hear the music you've been missing

A device like the 160GB iPod Classic can hold so much music, you could listen continuously for around 75 days and never hear the same song twice*. Of course, nobody does that--and let's not even go into how you scored 160GB of music without spending tens of thousands of dollars.

Most of us gravitate toward our same favorite albums and artists on a day-to-day basis, or put our iPods on shuffle. But for those completists out there, it can be frustrating to know there are songs hiding in your collection that you've probably never heard.

To find all … Read more

Share huge files on the Net for free

More devices do video these days, which means more people shoot video, which means more people want to share video. But have you attempted to e-mail a huge video file? Anything longer than a couple of minutes becomes massive. And most e-mail won't allow large files.

In this how-to I'll show you a few services that let you share files over the Internet that are larger than 1GB. Some even do it for free!

My favorite is Dropbox. You can store up to 2GB of data for free, or upgrade to 50GB or 100GB for $10 or $20 … Read more

Eliminate Google from your life

As Google gets bigger and bigger, so do our privacy concerns. If you use Google search, Gmail, Google Docs, and YouTube, Google collects a staggering amount of data about you. And we only named a handful of the Google products.

But you can live life without Google. Here's how. Let's start with search.

You may think you can't find anything on the Web without Google, but you can. In fact, you have several worthwhile options to choose from. Bing is the next most popular search engine and it will soon power Yahoo search. You can also try … Read more